Collage:New News

[Diavolobella]

[bearcatfan]

Originally Posted by bubbles76

Joan, I think I was the one that used the word "duped" haha! It seems to have taken off

Troublemaker.

I agree with every word Joan wrote, both times.

It will be interesting to hear what explanation, if any, Collage offers. I guess they don't really have to explain anything, but in the spirit of past relationships and future goodwill it would be wise to do so.

[Bebop]

Originally Posted by bearcatfan

Troublemaker.

I agree with every word Joan wrote, both times.

It will be interesting to hear what explanation, if any, Collage offers. I guess they don't really have to explain anything, but in the spirit of past relationships and future goodwill it would be wise to do so.

I agree.

[cecififi]

I don't feel duped at all. I got some great dvd's at great prices. I was going to buy the dvd's eventually from Mary anyway so I am happy with the prices I paid. That said, I am sorry to hear that some did not have a positive experience. When things don't go right for me with a service - I tend not to shop there again. I lose trust. I am not there with Collage. I would be very happy to have the clips back and - better prices, if possible. Also, if a small business is saved - I am happy for the owners.

[Diavolobella]

One other thing that will be interesting to see is how this affects the prices of certain DVDs once they reopen. For instance, if Collage comes back online and the sale price is now the regular price for a specific DVD, that would do away with any benefit to having bought that DVD in a rush during the sale. If the price goes back up to the pre-sale price, that's different and the benefit of buying at the going out of business sale would remain. There are so many things to wonder and I'm interested to see how it all shakes out.

[TinaT]

Does anyone have an inside track that can find out when they plan to come back online and open for business?

[dianestjohn]

Originally Posted by Diavolobella

I think some people are missing the point of my post. I don't think I ever used the word "duped" but the fact remains that there is something wrong with telling people you are closing, causing them to stock up on things they might have bought casually over a longer period of time rather than in a rush and then taking it back. Let's say:

• The purple banana store announces it is closing and you love purple bananas.
• It the only store that sells purple bananas (and in this case, there were some workouts that only Collage carried), so this increases immediate demand.
• Assuming it's your last chance to get purple bananas, you buy $100 worth of them, whereas normally you might only spend $20 each month on purple bananas. It's not a matter of not being able to afford the $100, but that you try to budget for your purple bananas.
• The purple banana store then announces they aren't closing.

Yes, you might have bought $100 worth of purple bananas that year anyway, but not all at once and not because you thought your supply was getting cut off so you had no choice if you wanted some purple bananas. That's the problem here. Yes, you willingly made the larger purchase but only because you were told the supply was being cut off, which was false information. There is a difference between persuasive advertising and false advertising. Intentionally manipulating information about supply to drive up demand and increase immediate sales is a questionable, if not deceitful tactic. I'd be interested to see what Collage's explanation turns out to be. If they held a "going out of business" sale to clear their inventory, that's pretty lame. They could have just called it an "inventory reduction sale." However, if something happened at the last minute to save their business and it wasn't intentional, then it's excusable and understandable. It is a very strange situation though and I guess what happened will all come to light at some point.

I don't have a horse in this race or anything since my order never went through, but dealing these sorts of situations and the questions that arise in them are part of what I do for a living as a paralegal, so it's just ingrained habit to dissect them.

Joan, that's an excellent explanation. I would add into the equation that they reduced the price of purple bananas to a heretofore unheard of discount.

I probably had about 50 items on my Collage wish list, every so often I would buy a few items for myself, my husband knew to consult my wishlist for birthdays, etc. I sort of dole out dvds to myself, the same way a person trying to stay healthy would eat only 1 piece of chocolate per day even if they have a 5 pound box. I'm not the buy-it-as-soon-as-it-comes-out type of vidiot. So when Collage announced it was closing, and they offered such amazing discounts on some dvds (discounts that I did not think would be matched by other vendors in the foreseeable future) I did order about 20 items from them, thinking they were not going to be around and I should jump at this once-in-a-lifetime chance because the deals were so good. I would not have ordered that many dvds if I had thought they were just having a Labor Day Sale or something like that - in that case, I would assume they would have other sales in the future and it was not my "last chance" to get such good deals on so many dvds. That is why, if Collage indeed did this whole thing just to accelerate sales, without actually expecting to go out of business, I would feel manipulated. (However, my experience with Collage has been so good over the years that I think something else strange happened and I am giving them the benefit of the doubt.)

[LCC]

Originally Posted by Diavolobella

One other thing that will be interesting to see is how this affects the prices of certain DVDs once they reopen. For instance, if Collage comes back online and the sale price is now the regular price for a specific DVD, that would do away with any benefit to having bought that DVD in a rush during the sale. If the price goes back up to the pre-sale price, that's different and the benefit of buying at the going out of business sale would remain. There are so many things to wonder and I'm interested to see how it all shakes out.

I would guess that at least 60% of what they liquidated is stuff that is never coming back. And, it shouldn't. They had a lot of dead weight in their inventory.

I don't think they could've gotten rid of those last few pregnancy workouts if they sold them with a free baby and box of diapers.

But, I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt and wait and see who or what the "new" Collage turns out to be.

Laura (LCC)

[Mandy]

I wanted to add that when I first heard that Collagevideo was going out of business, I felt a lot of sadness. It really affected me. Like I was losing a friend. Collagevideo introduced me to most of my video and DVD library.
In that emotional state, I wanted to make one final order. Yes, it was me that placed the order under my own free will and the money I spent was all by my own hand. But if it was just a regular sale, I don't think I would have felt that way when I placed the order.
I even saved the receipt and shipping package as a keepsake....I'm just so sentimental

I'm happy they aren't closing!! Yes, I am! But I also have mixed feelings if they did say they are going out of business when in the long run, it was just to boost sales. Its not so much about the money I spent but about how it affected me in feeling the loss of Collage closing down.

[paideiamom]

I am late to the conversation, as per norm.

But most states have issues with "going out of business" sales that are really "going out for your business sales." When I initially heard of their coming back, my first thoughts were that they were playing some games. There are a lot of issues with closing a business down, leases, payroll taxes, sales taxes. Certain things must be done and done right so as not to incur various penalties. And then to have it pop back up like it was just a bad dream, I don't know.
Maybe they wanted to dump the expensive forum or the telephone system. Maybe they wanted to be able to dump the whole catalogue thing which must be ghastly expensive.


What I am most intrigued about is how Collage could monetize streaming. Don't most instructors who stream have their own Internet/web space to do this in?

Why would they go through a third party like Collage that, quite frankly, has never seemed like a cutting-edge sort of place.

I am a Luddite. Educate me, please.